


Reminders

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: s03e13 Night Five, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-03-18
Updated: 2005-03-18
Packaged: 2019-05-30 09:14:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15093707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: Sometimes even a good relationship needs to be cherished.





	Reminders

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

**Reminders**

**by:** Kansas J. Miller

**Character(s):** Sam, CJ  
**Pairing(s):** CJ/Sam  
**Category(s):** Romance, Post Episode  
**Rating:** TEEN  
**Disclaimer:**  
**Summary:** Sometimes even a good relationship needs to be cherished.  
**Spoiler:** _Night Five_  


  
Sam whistled his way through the lobby towards CJ's office, hoping she'd still be there. With a wry chuckle, Sam noted with a never-ending disbelief that here he was at 34 years old - in the actual White House. Yet at the same time, Sam noted it was midnight on a Friday. His Fridays were passing him by, and that was sobering. He should be having fun, relaxing, enjoying his time. But he knew it was a privilege to be in the White House, and who knew how much longer it would last. 

"You seen CJ?" Sam asked as he stuck his head into Josh's office. The Deputy Chief-of-Staff looked up, tired and dulled. "What's wrong?" Sam instantly asked, sensing the stress. Josh walked around his desk, biting his lip as he cocked his head down the hall. Sam looked into CJ's office with curiosity. 

CJ was on her knees, her black suit fading into the dark clothing of the woman in her arms. An older man lingered over them as CJ attempted to comfort the clearly distraught woman. 

"What's this?" Sam asked in surprise, looking with raised eyebrows at Josh. Josh twisted his mouth and shook his head. 

"Bill Price was captured by rebels in the Congo. Killed, and CJ had to tell his wife," Josh recanted softly, the horror of reality evident in his voice. Sam raised his chin, struck by this news. 

"What was Billy doing in the Congo?" his first question was, wondering why anyone would take such a risk. Josh shrugged dejectedly. 

"As CJ said, covering a story no one was paying attention to. I feel bad," Josh stated, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "CJ never liked Billy, and now..." 

Sam narrowed his eyes in thought, remembering how easily the reporter had been able to make CJ lose her cool. "Yeah," Sam agreed, studying the floor with uncomfortable silence ringing in his ears. He could hear the faint, muffled cries of the tearful wife. 

  
"You and CJ are okay?" Josh asked suddenly, picking his head up. Sam turned his attention away from the tragic scene unfolding down the hallway. 

"We're perfectly fine...Why?" 

"'Guys like you, I'm one of them'...You said that to me today," Josh quoted, pointing out Sam's own self-admission. 

"It didn't mean..." Sam trailed, putting his hands on his hips self-consciously. Looking down at the floor, Sam knew that in the past, he'd been a hit-and-run type of guy. But now, here, this was different. He wasn't into CJ for the flirtation, for the chase...it seemed to be more than that. 

"All I'm saying is that CJ isn't Lisa," Josh said quietly. 

"Thanks for the reminder," Sam retorted as he picked his head up, slightly irritated. 

"Hey, I just don't want my two best friends getting hurt," Josh responded, his voice full of sincerity, eyes wide. Sam breathed out, the annoyance gone. 

"You think we're strange, don't you?" 

Josh stopped, considering his words. Finally he admitted, "You've gotta understand, Sam, this is out of the blue. And face it, no one would have expected you with CJ. She's got, what, 8 years on you?" 

"Barely seven!" Sam defended quickly. "And there's nothing wrong with it." 

Josh backed off, holding his hand up. "People are just surprised. And hey, as long as you're happy..." 

"Damn right," Sam muttered, looking back down the hall. CJ was standing now, helping Bill Price's wife to stand up. "Over two months." 

Josh raised an eyebrow with a pleasant grin. "You know I demand details...." 

Sam chuckled, nodding in agreement, then took a few steps forward as CJ exited her office. Her face was pale, expressionless and hard as she led Janet Price out towards the lobby. CJ hardly had time to get his attention, but as her eyes locked briefly with Sam's, they pleaded with him to stay and wait. 

It was nearly one o'clock and they were still bleary eyed, drowsy and numb on her office sofa. CJ took solace in Sam's nearness, but after the awful news she'd had to deliver to Janet Price there was much to knot up her insides. Janet knew that CJ had never liked Bill, she knew about their clashes. Now CJ had to be the one, the same awful person revealing another awful truth. It seemed a most unfitting, unfair conclusion to a story that had always been so. 

  
Her head was nestled under Sam's chin, his arm slung protectively over her shoulder; they spoke sporadically in hushed, comfortable tones and found no need to be anywhere else. This Friday was no longer being wasted; Sam would have been happy to stay on this couch with CJ the whole night, kissing the top of her head as she remembered all the times that she'd fought Bill Price. 

  
Neither of them noticed Toby when he arrived at the doorway; they were too wrapped up in the intimacy of simple closeness, and for a minute as he watched them, Toby could almost believe in CJ's relationship with Sam. 

Frankly, Toby found it to be an awkward pair, unlikely and unusual. Sam was practically a kid, young and idealistic, simple and foolish at times. And CJ was untouchable to Toby - a mysterious, beautiful, carefully crafted surface of a woman that no one really saw. She was the embodiment of class, and what made her all the more endearing was the fact that she did not know it. 

Toby wasn't sure if he wanted CJ, too, but he knew that the sight of her head on Sam's shoulder flipped his stomach. He brushed it off; they'd been friends for almost twenty years and never anything more. In some ways Toby felt protective of CJ, and now he convinced himself that that was all. 

He cleared his throat unceremoniously. "Sorry to interrupt..." 

CJ sat up and Sam let his arm slid off of CJ's back; they separated somewhat guiltily. "What's going on?" Sam asked, not entirely taking his eyes away from CJ. 

Toby sighed and walked into the office. "We're taking another look at the language." 

"What?" Sam forced out confusedly, not having expected Toby to fold. 

"Andi got to be too much for ya, hmm?" CJ teased, catching Toby's eye with a wicked grin. He rolled his eyes at the both of them. 

"Shut up," he shot, desperately fighting the urge to smile. "Here's the committee paragraph. Don't waste any time on it tonight though," Toby said breezily as he handed Sam the sheet. Sam perused it quickly, looking skeptically up at his boss. 

"I don't think I'll be wasting any time on it ever..." 

CJ's short giggle was not lost on Toby as he directed the two to go home; it was dark and late, and he'd need them to be semi-alert for work on Saturday. As he exited her office, Toby stopped at Carol's desk to leave CJ's copy of the new paragraph. Through the partially opened blinds, he could see Sam helping CJ off of the couch; as their lips brushed together quickly and gently, Toby found himself having to agree with the image. 

*** 

She was naked, soft and warm under the sheets, and though her body was turned away from Sam, he'd never felt so close to her before. Sleeping with CJ was definitely unlike anything he'd ever experienced, and as he smiled into the dark, Sam remembered the way she'd kissed him that first night. Over two months had passed, and it was only so funny now because it had seemed so wrong then. They'd been shocked with themselves in the morning, embarrassed and fumbling for words, but Sam knew the minute she'd shyly poured him a cup of coffee that they'd done something right. 

*** 

It was Thanksgiving, and they were both in Washington. Toby was busy with his family and Josh was in Palm Beach; it seemed almost natural that Sam go to CJ's for dinner. The year before they'd watched football at Josh's place, but this year the television stayed off. 

They'd always been friends, and as they sat on the floor, facing each other with glasses of post-dinner wine, Sam had wondered why they were not closer. She seemed to go to Toby first, and Josh was CJ's best friend, but Sam knew she cared about him, too. CJ had been there for him when he'd first found out about his father's infidelity, and she was the only other member of the team to take the same hits as he did. We should be closer, he'd told himself, and we should try harder... 

It had scared Sam, as they slowly drank themselves into a haze, that he was noticing CJ's eyes and her lips, and they way her cheeks flushed with the alcohol. She was attractive. It hit Sam terribly hard, as though he had never seen CJ Cregg before, and suddenly here was a beautiful person full of sex appeal, drinking wine out of a lipstick-smudged glass. 

CJ realized that he was watching her, because he'd stopped talking and his eyes were darker as they focussed on her lips. And she started to watch him too, willing her long-repressed attraction to Sam to stay where it was. They'd been talking about why they were single, and as she set her glass down on the coffee table, Sam had covered her hand with his own. 

Without thinking CJ leaned forward and caught his lips hard, almost passionately and before she knew a thing Sam's hands were in her hair. The kiss lasted longer than CJ had imagined it would, and while their tongues dueled, her mind could not process what or why. But the wine stopped her from deciding it was wrong, and as they groped for breath, CJ wondered how drunk Sam really was. Yet as they moved to the couch, wordless and hot, Sam knew clearly how much he wanted CJ Cregg. 

*** 

"What are you doing?" she whispered, rolling over unceremoniously. Sam shook his head; how had CJ known he wasn't asleep? 

"I'm thinking," he whispered back, "Why are we whispering?" 

CJ propped herself up on an arm, tugging the sheet against her bare body. "I don't know," she said, voice at a normal level. "What are you thinking about?" 

Sam leaned back, stretching his muscular arms over his head. He looked at CJ and reached his hand out to smooth down her tousled hair. "Thanksgiving." 

CJ pressed her lips together and smiled as she sat up to face Sam. "Why? 

Sam shrugged, happy with the memory. "I don't know, I was just remembering how you walked into your kitchen door that morning." 

CJ picked her chin up and laughed. "I was embarrassed. I wanted you to want me, but I thought it was just a fuck," she confessed, running her palm down Sam's bare chest. He smiled at the intimate gesture that she often offered. 

"It wasn't. It won't ever be," Sam assured her, reaching out to pull CJ down on top of him. Her head on his chest, CJ sighed. 

"I just keep thinking about Janet, and how she only had Billy for five years. Five years, Sam, that's the blink of an eye. And she didn't expect to lose him like this. And I know she didn't have enough time to cherish him, to love him," CJ said in a low voice, reminding herself to feel this moment as if it could never happen again. Sam understood as he rested his chin against CJ's head, and he reminded himself to value the feeling of her close to him. "God, I'm afraid of losing you," she finished softly, admitting to the fear that had plagued her all night long. 

  
Sam looked down at CJ, touched and concerned as he hugged her tightly. "Don't worry, baby," he said simply, causing CJ's heart to skip a beat 

Sam so rarely called CJ by the affectionate term, so that when he did, she knew it was real. And She slid her arms around his torso, holding on hard as she silently promised not to take Sam for granted. CJ was glad for the reminder and glad that she had the chance to be here, now. 


End file.
